Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Oct 25, 2010 10:20 am Hello, I drove past my block of land during the weekend and saw my neighbour’s builder is using my land (without asking), dumping soil and parking their truck. We haven’t started to build yet so I don’t really mind (they should have asked permission first though), as long as they remove all that soil from my property. I called that builder to report the issue. The receptionist apologised and said she will tell the site supervisor to make sure to remove the soil. That’s all good but I wonder if I should not take it a bit further. Should I write them a letter to put all of this in writing? What I am worried about is that they change the levels of my land or leave stuff that I would have to remove before I start to build, eventually costing me money. Is there a way I can protect my interests, should they leave stuff on my land? Please share your experience if you had similar issue! DKP Re: Neighbour builder using my land without permission 2Oct 25, 2010 10:56 am Take some pictures and email through to the builder concerned, yours and the developer. Re: Neighbour builder using my land without permission 4Oct 25, 2010 2:03 pm Personally I wouldn't complain about it as you might be in the same situation yourself when your own builder makes use of a neighbouring lot to build your house. It happens all the time and you can complain till your are blue in the face but word never seems to filter down to the subcontractors (or they just ignore it). Just wait till they have finished then make sure they leave the site in the same state that they found it - ie no rubbish and levels the same. If you put fences up you could restrict your own builders access to the site and incur extra costs yourself (assuming you are not built in already by the time you build). Re: Neighbour builder using my land without permission 5Oct 25, 2010 2:48 pm I'd fence it off now and avoid the potential for their builders to destroy anything. And also to avoid conflict with your neighbours. We had our neighbours' builder remove about 100 cubic metres of our topsoil. Now it's a fight to get them to put it right. They are ignoring our emails and looks like we'll need to get the police involved. Crazy stuff and not worth the stress.. Once we finally get our llevels fixed, we'll put in temp fencing. cost is about $420 for 50 linear metres for 2 months. Here's our unfolding saga: http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39758 Re: Neighbour builder using my land without permission 6Oct 25, 2010 4:24 pm We have an empty block near us, and even as owner builders we've used their land a few times Once was for soil (we had no choice due to stupid rain bogging the truck, but will excavate this away as soon as we can) but we did see the neighbour and apologised profusively! And then to top it off, we have deliveries being dumped on their land because they think its easier than putting it in our driveway Happened this morning, and we literally had to move hundreds of pieces of timber by hand on to our land from theirs - my hubby went crazy at the delivery guy! So what Im saying is that sometimes its not always the actual builders fault. I think contacting them is a great start, and you should wait to see if any thing else happens before taking it further Custom European Cabinets - Melbourne Kitchen Specialist PM for business details as website currently being updated! Our Crazy Owner Builder Journey! Re: Neighbour builder using my land without permission 7Oct 25, 2010 5:08 pm We're building in a new estate so there are lots of empty blocks including mine. I have been watching the progress of the neighbour’s house and at first was horrified to see what was on my land. There was a bit of rubbish, there fence was way over the boundary, tiles, frame.. Heaps of things. I've been keeping an eye on it and there now up to bricking and nothing is left on my block. The temporary fencing will have to be moved when we start building if they are not finished by then but apart from that they have cleaned up as they went. I don’t mind them using it as long as they keep cleaning up. I wish that was an option for my builders but we will have neighbours on both sides by then. If they were to dump a heap of dirt (if I didn’t need it) on my land I’d be a tad unhappy but it's past that stage now. Hope the builder doesn’t leave you too stressed dkp. Don't stress the small stuff. Wait and see how it goes. Nettie Building Memphis 26 with Eden Brae 31 Jan 11 Scraped Re: Neighbour builder using my land without permission 8Oct 25, 2010 5:57 pm You need to keep a watch on it as when I was building an earthmoving contractor put a huge mountain of dirt on my block. When he removed it he didn't take all of it and it cost me $1500 to take the excess away. It is a bit better if there is a builder to chase as they probably wont just dissapear, but who is to say what the original level was? Nathan Re: Neighbour builder using my land without permission 9Oct 25, 2010 8:26 pm Hi guys, Thanks for all your replies! I am not stressed about it. I don't mind they use my land at all as long as they remove what they've put there. I don't really want to put a fence for what might be a non issue. However I want to avoid what happened to Nathan, i.e. having to pay to remove excess soil or any other garbage. I have photographic evidence of them dumping on my site and I know what are my land's levels (contour survey). I guess if it was found the levels are not the same it would be relatively easy to show who's fault it is. DKP Re: Neighbour builder using my land without permission 10Oct 26, 2010 4:11 pm Well lets hope your neighbours builder does the right thing by you as we were the reverse of you with our builder using our neighbours block without permission and leaving soil and scree on the block but promising to get rid of it. Time elapsed and this started to hold our neighbours up who then had to remove at own cost. I was so mortified as it was beyond our control and I felt bad for our neighbour. It was one of the big building companies that did this and also acknowledged they would remove but sometimes it is not worth delaying your build for a small cost to remove yourself no matter how galling it is. Hope this doesn't happen to you. Re: Neighbour builder using my land without permission 11Oct 27, 2010 8:48 am dkp Should I write them a letter to put all of this in writing? Absolutely. Put it in writing, with photographs, and if you're paranoid get it delivered registered post. It doesn't have to be a nasty letter, just politely (but firmly) pointing out that permission was not asked to use your land, and that permission for future occurrences will not be given. Then at least if they do it again they will have no leg to stand on legally if it comes to a bunfight to clean up your property. Re: Neighbour builder using my land without permission 12Oct 28, 2010 4:04 pm Hi dkp, I had to face to the same situation couple of weeks back & it was quite stressful as it was very closer to our site start. There was some unwanted soil which was placed by one of the neighbouring builders. Once I rang the council & informed them. The council guy asked for evidence to prove that the soil was placed by that builder & we informed that it is clearly visible as there’s site cut & had excavate just next to where the soil was. In about 1 weeks time the council guy had visited the premises & he said he will mail a letter to the corresponding builder requesting to take the soil from our block & to place the temporary fence. We went in about 2 weeks time, but the soil was there & we talked to the supervisor & asked to remove them & said that we have already informed the council. After about another 2 weeks time the soil was taken out from our block. Again when it was very closer to the site start some neighbouring builders or neighbours had placed some rubbish on our block, such as tyres, cement blocks, a door & etc. We had to pay $200 to a person to remove the rubbish & I was really angry for paying for other’s rubbish. I hope this is the nature when the neighbours start building their houses as well as when no much empty blocks on the estate. For your case, better to keep the photographic evidences & see whether you can get some help from your council. Porter Davis - Wembley 35 Contract Signed: 17 Aug 2010 Handover: 12 Aug 2011 Re: Neighbour builder using my land without permission 13Oct 31, 2010 8:33 pm I went to see my block today. Sure enough there was a big pile of dirt left by the neighbour's builder. Luckily my future neighbour was there having a look at his site. It turns out that his builder had put this soil over my lot thinking we will need it. They were going to contact my builder to check this out and remove the soil if we don't need it. I will check this out with my builder and if we don't need any soil I guess it will be time to write a letter to make it clear this soil has to be removed. DKP Re: Neighbour builder using my land without permission 14Nov 16, 2010 9:01 pm My issue with the dumped soil is being resolved. I talked to my neighbour and he's going to get it removed. I also sent a letter to his builder more or less threatening them to report the issue to the council and asking them to refrain putting anything on my land. That was more to make a point with the builder and it appear to have worked well. Thanks everyone for your advise! DKP Hi, I contracted a Builder to do a Garage to Bedroom + ensuite conversion (Class 1a), the Builder engaged the Certifier and Engineer and received BDA from the Certifier… 0 5006 This certainly doesn't look good. I would be engaging with an independent inspector to have a look at this. As for the unscheduled site visits, most builders are quite… 1 28312 Elvis has left the building... The site supervisor quit after 2 month on the project. I guess he was just instructed to bark at people, but didn't like when he was… 26 20898 |